The Tally – Involuntary Terminations, Cuts, and Redundancies In The Audit Firms

Notice I didn’t use the word “layoff.” Unless we’re talking about the Big 3 automaketrs versus the Big 4 audit firms, there’s o hope (and not much for autoworkers anymore) that anyone is coming back. I’d like to count up all the information contained in the hundreds of comments that have been posted in the last year and a half or so on my blog.  That might give me a number or at least a read on the volume.  I can also look to the limited press releases that have bene issued:

PwC’s statement to WebCPA forced by my February 2008 post about Advisory “layoffs” that predicted a thousand. PwC admitted only a hundred or so at that time.

Deloitte’s press release in August of 2008 where they admitted cuts of close to 1000 porfessionals at that time and also gave these porfessionals a gift: They blamed the economy rather than attributing cuts to seasonal culling of poor performers.

KPMG’s limited press release indicating a few hundred cuts due to economic circumstances in

Although there was a very large reduction at KPMG the week of March and Deloitte’s termination engine has started up again at full force, don;t let anyone tell you that this is a recent occurrence.  As much as Ms. Harrinton states in her press relase in August that Deloite was not seeing “industry wide” reductions, they’ve been happening all along for the last at least eighteen months.

We thought partners wouldn’t be cut, but they have been demoted and in some cases cut. Reports indicate this practice is most common at Deloitte.